Two Republican lawmakers pointed to Scandinavia on Tuesday to argue that Donald Trump supporters are raising legitimate concerns about the danger of opening the United States’ doors to refugees.
“One need not support Mr. Trump to acknowledge these reasonable concerns of the 14 million Republicans who voted for him in the primaries and the tens of millions who will vote for him in November,” wrote Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., and Sen. Tom Cotton, R- Ark., in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece. “These voters are not xenophobic or racist. They simply want the priority of America’s immigration policy to be the economic and social interests of American citizens.”
The congressmen argued that their recent visit to Norway and Sweden convinced them that the countries’ differing responses to the influx of immigrants can provide a lesson for the domestic political establishment. They asserted that the attitudes of many Swedish leaders parallel those held by American politicians. The lawmakers, on the other hand, have argued against taking in massive numbers of refugees.
“Norwegian leaders responded to similar concerns and their country is safe and stable. Swedish leaders didn’t and their country faces economic, social, and political upheaval. There is a lesson here for American elites.”
While asylum applications dropped 95 percent between the last quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016 in Norway, the lawmakers wrote that Sweden has accepted 280,000, which is more than any other EU nation, after the country “threw open its doors in 2013” by offering these immigrants permanent residency. After increasing public pressure, the Swedish government implemented more restrictions this summer.
The lawmakers argued that Norway adopted policies to stop “uncontrolled migration,” including increasing border security, waiting periods, and deportation rates of ineligible immigrants. The country also reduced welfare benefits to be comparable to those offered by neighboring countries.
“Norway is far from hardhearted. … But Norwegians understand that an open-border policy would strain their resources, disrupt the integration of other recently arrived immigrants, and undercut the legitimate desire of Norwegians to preserve their nation’s culture and character,” the congressmen wrote.
